Chapter 1

Sasuke studied him carefully. Trying to discern if Naruto was lying. This didn't sound like him.

"Oh, come on Sasuke, it'll be a cake walk this way!" Naruto was saying. "For the both of us. I help you; you help me. We would be able to take them down if we are working together!" He was waving his arms around to try and make his point. Acting like an idiot, like normal.

Naruto had somehow figured out a way to track him down, though Sasuke hadn't figured out how yet. Now Naruto was asking Sasuke to join forces with him. Naruto would help him take down Itachi and in return, Sasuke would help Naruto to take down this Pain character that had killed Naruto's Sensei, Jiraiya.

Sasuke was wondering what could have happened to make Naruto turn away from the village for help and had turned to him instead.

"Tell me why I would want to help a loser like you?" Sasuke said with disdain on his face. He didn't doubt that Naruto would be an asset to his plan of revenge, however he would also be a distraction. Plus, Sasuke wasn't entirely convinced that Naruto had turned rogue. It seemed like a stretch for Naruto from what Sasuke remembered of him. "Why don't you turn to your friends in Konoha?" He said with a sneer.

Naruto stiffened at that question, pressing his lips together and holding Sasuke's gaze. Sasuke could tell that he wasn't going to get anywhere here. He spun around and began walking away. "Get lost. Loser." He said as he raised his hand up with a shooing motion.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled in a tone that Sasuke would have never thought he would hear from the blonde-haired boy. It was so familiar to him that he stopped walking as soon as he heard it. Pain, loss, betrayal. Hate. All the things Sasuke himself had been feeling ever since he had come home to find his entire clan slaughtered by his elder brother.

Seeing that Sasuke had stopped walking, Naruto lowered his voice, but Sasuke could still hear just how much Naruto was hurting. "Y - You HAVE to help me. Please..." Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at Naruto, His eyes widened slightly. Naruto was looking him dead in the eye with a look Sasuke had never seen from him. Hatred. The thirst for revenge. He stopped doubting Naruto's status with Konoha.

Sasuke gave the slightest of nods and continued walking. He could hear Naruto moving to follow him.

"Thanks Sasuke! I mean it! You're not going to regret this! Oh! I managed to get the picture of the message Jiraiya had sent back to us when he d- when he went against Pain." Sasuke noticed Naruto's slight hesitation. It must have been recent. Sasuke grabbed the offered picture, looking at the message. It made no sense to him, but then again, he didn't know Jiraiya. He had more than likely left the message for a specific person, which logic would dictate to be Naruto.

"Does it mean anything to you?" Sasuke asked, still studying the message.

"Nope! Not a thing! Heh. I figured maybe you could help me figure it out, you were always claiming to be the smart one after all!" Naruto laughed and clapped Sasuke on the back. Sasuke glared at him, a silent warning to Naruto not to touch him. Ever. Naruto put his hands up in front of him, waving Sasuke off and backed off. Sasuke went back to studying the message.

"What details do you have of the fight? Did he ever talk to you about a cipher for a hidden message?"

"Hmmmmm. Let me think." Naruto scratched his head and tried to remember something. "Wait, what is a cipher?"

Sasuke stopped walking, putting his palm to his forehead. "Idiot." He had forgotten how dense Naruto truly was. "It's a code, a way to read a hidden message." Sasuke continued walking.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed, "I knew that! I just - forgot! I don't think he did, I mean. I would probably remember that, wouldn't I?"

"Well, you would think." But with you…. Sasuke thought to himself. "Is there anything about the message that strikes you as odd? Any difference from his normal handwriting that you can see?" He held the picture so Naruto could see it. He assumed that Naruto hadn't thought to study the handwriting in the message. He was correct.

"Hmmmmmm…." He suddenly gasped. "That's not a 9! That's how he writes the katakana letter "ta"!" He looked excited to have noticed the quirk. "I know because Pervy Sage made me read the manuscripts of one of his books. Every draft. It was rough!" Naruto chuckled.

"Did he not write that character the same in his other books?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmmm. Not that I remember. Why? Does it have something to do with the message?!" Naruto was bouncing on the balls of his feet, seemingly excited about getting somewhere with the message.

Sasuke sighed. It was going to be a long trip. He was seriously considering telling Naruto never mind.

Several Hours Later

Sasuke had finally gotten the information out of Naruto that he needed to decode the message. They needed to find a book shop next. But first, Itachi needed to die and for that, Sasuke needed a few more people on his side. He knew just who he wanted.

"We will grab the book we need on the way to gather a few more people." Naruto looked confused.

"Why do we need other people? Does the great Sasuke Uchiha need even more help than me?" Naruto asked mockingly,

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "They have abilities that will help us not only track down the people we need but are good pawns that we can utilize if necessary. I do NOT plan on losing. This ensures that. Now, let's get moving, we need to find Itachi.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I also swiped this on my way out of the village." Naruto handed over a small book. It seemed to contain data on Itachi. Sasuke took the file, leafing through it quickly.

He looked up at Naruto. "What did they do to you?" He asked once again.

Again, Naruto stiffened and refused to answer. Looking away he said, "I just saw a good opportunity and so I snagged it."

Sasuke grunted, turning his attention back to the file in his hand as he continued to walk.

They finally stopped for the night and set up camp a little way off the road. Naruto handled the fire and tent while Sasuke scouted around the camp with his sharingan activated. He didn't see anything amiss, set a few traps on his way back to camp and set about gathering items he needed to cook. He knew that chances were Naruto had no idea how to cook anything but ramen.

"Mmmmmmm! That was good! Thanks man! You always did know how to cook! I remember this one time -" Sasuke had stopped listening, he was going through the file again, memorizing everything.

"Sasuke! Earth to Sasuke!" Sasuke looked up at Naruto. "Aren't you listening? Do you want to take the 1st or 2nd watch?"

"Go to sleep, Naruto. I'll wake you in a few hours"

Sasuke had gone through everything in the file with a fine-tooth comb at this point, so he had tucked that away already and was sitting in the dark, watching, listening. He found himself wondering exactly what would have pushed Naruto away from Konoha. He knew it had to have been bad. He found himself looking towards the tent, he could see Naruto's blonde head peeking out from the tent flap. He watched the other boy sleep for a while, finally looking away to survey the surroundings.

It seemed like Sasuke had barely looked away when he heard a shout coming from the tent. He reacted quickly and ran over, activating his Sharingan. "Naruto!" he shouted as he pushed into the tent, hand on his sword and looked around. All he saw was Naruto, who was sweating and looking agitated. He kept trying to reach for something.

Without thinking, Sasuke took his hand and knelt beside him, grabbing his shoulder and trying to shake him awake. "Naruto! Naruto! Wake up!" Naruto sprang up to a crouched position, holding a kunai in his hand, his eyes jumping everywhere, looking for a threat. Naruto's eyes finally landed on Sasuke, who had been knocked back with the suddenness of Naruto's awakening.

For a long while, they just stared at each other, getting their breathing back under control from the adrenalin. Once Naruto had calmed down, he sheepishly put his kunai back under his pillow and sheepishly put his hand on the back of his neck, looking down at the ground.

"I'm uh, sorry about that Sasuke." He glanced up at Sasuke and immediately looked to the side, rubbing his neck with his hand some more. "I'm okay, you can go back to your watch."

"What was that about?" Sasuke asked, without moving. What had he been dreaming about? Naruto glanced up at him, pain in his eyes.

"It was nothing, don't worry about it. If you want, I can take over the watch now." Naruto began to get up. Sasuke quickly rose and moved to leave the tent.

"No, you have a couple more hours before your watch. Go back to sleep. I will stay close to the tent." Sasuke walked out of the tent, barely sparing a glance at Naruto on the way out. What possessed me to offer to stay close? What do I care if he has bad dreams? Sasuke shook his head but still found himself sitting right around the corner of the tent to stay out of the dying light from the campfire, his back against the cloth. He could feel Naruto's presence inside the tent. Could feel when he shifted his weight to lay back down. Sasuke knew when Naruto shifted around inside the tent and ended up with his back against the cloth, pressed up against Sasuke's back.

Sasuke stiffened, he felt Naruto pull away slightly, seemingly afraid of Sasuke's reaction. When he didn't hear anything, he relaxed back into place. Sasuke stayed tense but didn't move. What am I doing? Sasuke wondered to himself. He should have moved away from the contact, but he somehow sensed that Naruto needed - something. Sasuke reasoned that he needed Naruto to get some rest so that he could handle his own watch. So, he stayed where he was. Naruto wasn't quite pressed against his back anymore but was close.

As Sasuke sat there, he could hear Naruto's breathing slow down, telling Sasuke that he was falling back asleep at last. Naruto moved slightly and was again pressing against Sasuke's back. Sasuke sat there for the next few hours, feeling the warmth from Naruto's back through the cloth. Wondering exactly what he was doing and why.

It had been time to wake Naruto for his watch for a few minutes now, Sasuke didn't know why he hadn't moved to do so yet. He did know that Naruto had no other bad dreams since he had gone back to sleep though. What is going on with me? Sasuke wondered to himself. Do I actually like the contact from his back? Sasuke shook his head and forced himself to move. This is ridiculous. He moved around the corner of the tent and pulled back the tent flap to reveal Naruto's sleeping figure. He crouched down to wake him up and remembered what happened the last time he did so and prepared better this time.

He reached down to grab Naruto's shoulder and shake him awake, but hesitated. He could just see the outline of Naruto's face. Without thinking he changed his reach in order to brush a stray strand of hair off Naruto's sleeping face. He could see the curves of his face and the fluttering under his eyelids as his eyes danced around under them. His lips were just barely open, and Sasuke found himself entranced with them. Sasuke found himself moving closer. He suddenly realized what he was doing and jerked back, eyes wide. What the hell is wrong with me? Sasuke shook his head and made himself shake Naruto awake for his watch.

Naruto jerked awake, but not quite like he did last time, he looked over at Sasuke, catching on that it was his watch. He went to get up and looked at Sasuke again, looking like he wanted to say something. Sasuke waved him off "Get going, loser." He said as he began removing his weapons so he could lay down and rest before morning.

Naruto still looked like he wanted to say something but instead moved out of the tent to take his watch. Sasuke laid down and put his arm over his face. Trying to shut his brain down so he could go to sleep. He laid that for what seemed like forever before he finally drifted off to sleep.